WEBVTT - 25 Greatest Science Ideas Countdown: Day 2 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.559 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:12.720 and iHeartRadio. Guess what will? 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:13.560 What's that Mango? 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.760 So welcome back to day two of our countdown of 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.760 the twenty five greatest science ideas in the past twenty 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.239 five years. And you know what's funny is when I 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.040 was driving around last night, I saw a car with 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:29.040 a bumper sticker and this is true. It said science 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:33.519 is like magic, but it's real. Okay, that's a real 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:34.240 bumper sticker. 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.920 I like that, you know. And considering we've already covered 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.280 how to get catch up to flow smoothly out of 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.200 a bottle, and a scientist to capture the actual smell 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.880 of space in a perfume, also a cure for hamster 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.480 jet lag, I'd say we're off to a pretty magical star. 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.680 It's also weird, but it's a pretty magical start. Yeah. 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.640 But as soon as I saw that sticker, I had 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.160 to roll down my window to yell, Hey, science fans, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.560 subscribe to Part Time Genius on your favorite podcast. 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.840 You are not telling the that is not a mango move. 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.920 But I feel like they might like the show well, 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:09.920 and actually I feel like you forgot to tell them 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:11.920 to leave a rating and review. That's that's your other 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:12.200 go to. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.200 Yeah, well, I'm sure they'll figure it out in the meantime. 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.240 When do you say we get started with day two 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:20.160 of our incredible countdown? 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:44.120 Can't wait, let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.840 to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:48.720 I'm here with my good friend mangesh Hot ticket there 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.080 and over there in the booth knows deep in a 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.400 book of magic tricks. It's our pal and producer Dylan Fake. 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:57.760 I think I might have inspired him to take up 0:01:57.800 --> 0:01:59.400 this new hobby with that little story. 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:01.880 As long as he doesn't run off to Vegas without us, 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.480 I think that's okay. So Mango, I'm really excited to 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:09.240 continue this countdown because today we're talking about bike helmets, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.440 We're talking about virtual dolphins, lobsters, and strangely, a healthy 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:19.320 diet that doesn't involve lobsters unfortunately. So let's get started. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.600 With Okay, Well, so how about we kick this off 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.240 with a little pop quiz. What would you describe as 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.320 sort of a modern healthy diet? 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:30.880 You know, obviously, I think it involves a lot of 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:35.600 fruits and veggies, good fats. You hear about olive oil, fish, nuts, 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.520 maybe some eggs, beans, poultry for protein, red meat, and 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.400 alcohol in moderation of course, and not too much candy, 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.760 which is a bummer, like those atomic fireballs we've been 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.560 sending out, So just those in moderation as well. Those 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:50.960 are the things that come to mind. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.119 Yeah, so you just described the classic Mediterranean diet, right, 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.720 and it's how people in the blue zones eat right 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.280 like people who live along I'm in place like Sardinia, Italy, 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.959 Italian Islands, Ikorea and Greece, and people tend to eat 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.760 really healthy lives there. But what if I told you 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.480 there might be an even healthier diet and instead of 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.560 tomatoes and olive oil, we should be eating cassava and 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:18.679 howler monkeys. 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.200 Oh, I didn't see that went coming. I think you'd 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.440 have to give me some pretty convincing evidence. I don't 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.040 think I'm up for this. I don't know. You might 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:27.760 call it like the Temple of Doom diet. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.120 Yeah, I feel like it's a good derivative from the 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.919 Indiana Jones franchise. But let me tell you a little 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.440 bit about it. So, over the past decade, there have 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.760 been a number of studies involving the chi Mayne people 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.560 and indigenous people native to the lowlands of the Bolivian Amazon, 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:47.120 and the Chimyine live off the land, far from modern conveniences, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.320 and they basically have like little to no access to healthcare, 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.360 at least the kind you and I are familiar with. 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.840 And for some reason they are freakishly healthy. Really, so 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:58.960 if you take heart disease right like here in the US, 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.440 about one in four people over the age of forty 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.840 five shows signs of a clogged heart, but the Chimene zero. 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:06.480 Really. 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:10.240 In twenty seventeen, Lancet reported that, quote, the Chimyne have 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:15.880 the lowest prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis of any population known 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:16.440 to science. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.720 Is that incredible? Yeah? So no heart problems. 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.840 Yeah. They also don't get high blood pressure or type 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:26.800 two diabetes. They show little evidence of asthma or autoimmune diseases. 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.640 Even their brains appear to be special. Like as we 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.880 age are brains typically atrophy, but for some reason, the 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.400 brains of older Chimyne people deteriorate at a rate that's 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:37.920 slower than seventy percent. 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:39.840 Wow, so they just never get sick. 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:42.960 I mean, that's the weird thing. They do get sick 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.719 like a lot. They are outdoorsy, their lifestyle exposes them 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:53.000 to like an insane bacterial load, viral and parasitic infections. 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.600 Seventy percent of their population has parasitic roundworm infections, and 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.880 because they get sick so often, they high levels of inflammation. Now, 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.320 the strange part is that for most of us, inflammation 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.880 would increase our chance of heart disease and other chronic ailments, 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.919 but not for the Chimne. Their good health is so 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:16.360 puzzling that scientists actually gave it a name, the Chimeyne 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:20.880 inflammation paradox. Now, in recent years, researchers have descended on 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.560 the population to learn their secrets, and so far their 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.919 insights have gone against the grain of what we know 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:30.360 about healthy living. So take those roundworm infections right, Like, 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:32.840 on the face of it, it sounds pretty unhealthy, but 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:37.159 researchers have actually discovered that this particular roundworm alters the 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.919 immune system in a way that might actually improve female fertility. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:42.160 Oh wow, it's not crazy. 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.360 And most chi Mayne only got six or seven hours 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.000 of sleep, and that's below the eight or nine hours 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.719 that doctors typically recommend. Here, right, it's accepted wisdom that 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:55.200 inadequate sleep can make you age faster, and yet tests 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.960 that measure aging was called intrinsic age acceleration, show that 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.839 the chi Mayne age slower than just about everybody. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.599 That is incredible. But back to the idea of the diet. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.120 What does their diet have to do with any of this? 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.800 So historically, obesity is rare among the Chimyenne, even though 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:13.760 they eat a lot more than we do. The typical 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.040 Chimaye women eat six hundred more calories than the average 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.719 American women in a given day. Okay, but there are 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.440 two big differences here, right, So First of all, their 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.599 diet is composed completely differently than ours. They eat only 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.920 four to fifty grams of fat a day Americans eat 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.200 twice that. They also get more protein than we do, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.600 as much as fifty grams more per day than the 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.640 average American, and they consume twice as much potassium, but 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.120 just one eighth the amount of sodium. The other difference 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.960 is activity level. The Chimayne actually average about sixteen thousand 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.919 steps every single while, and they maintain this level of 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.120 physical activity late into their lives. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.640 Their apple watches and garments must just be giving them 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.159 so many awards for all that activity. All right, so 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:00.200 we've got low fat, high protein tons of activity. Obviously, 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.120 what kinds of foods are they actually eating? Like what's 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.240 on the menu for the average chimne home. 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.400 Yeah, So for starches and veggies, they tend to eat 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:13.480 like plantains, cassava, rice, and that's about it. Their primary 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.720 seafood is a fish called the trahira, also known as 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:21.440 the wolffish because of its dog like teeth. Then for protein, 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.920 they eat a lineup of local mammals, including capabera, the pecari, 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.840 which is basically a small wild pig. They also eat pakas, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.640 which are these giant rodents with markings kind of like deer, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.520 and Kutta Mundi's, which well, it's kind of like a 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:40.920 cross between a lemur, a raccoon, and a small beer. 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.040 And that's about it. They don't eat that much else. 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.200 Most of their calories come from just nine different foods, 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.240 which is pretty counterintuitive. Like here in the US, we're 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.520 always told we should be eating the rainbow of vegetables 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.760 and a wide variety of foods, but that's not what 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:56.200 they do. 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.160 That's super interesting. I want to say that I'm sold here, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.760 because it does feel like they've figured out the perfect diet. 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.800 But I don't know how you could achieve that here. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:05.280 It's not like you're able to go to the store 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.680 and pick up a code of Mundi, which, by the way, 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.520 i'd never heard of that before. You said it's a 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.040 cross between a lemur, a raccoon, and a small base. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.760 It all looks like a small I got it. I 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.040 got it. But anyway, that sort of food isn't exactly 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:18.840 accessible here. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.600 Yeah, you're not finding it out a barbecue. This dietary 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:23.960 advice isn't realistic for people like you and me, And 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.560 lately even the Chimene have been having a hard time 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.679 following this diet, and that's because modern life has started 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.000 intruding on their space, right on their villages. Kids are 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.080 now eating pasta there and processed foods and sugars. After 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.360 generations of this diet that's like helped them defy the odds, 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.720 their health's actually getting worse, it's kind of sad to see. 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.920 And they're gaining weight. So it's possible that the world's 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.680 healthiest diet might actually be on the verge of extinction. 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.360 That's rough this has become a universal problem of trying 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.920 to pry the sugary snacks away from our kids, you know, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:08:59.800 so they don't ruin their appetites before they eat a 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.240 good dinner. It's just it's still different. Like here we're 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.959 eating chicken. There they're eating capy bara, which I actually 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:06.240 didn't know that was something people late. 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:08.559 Yeah, So now, if you don't want to eat a 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.320 capy berra, I certainly don't blame you, but maybe you'd 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.400 like to hug one. Today on our Instagram, we're actually 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.440 having a little contest. We're giving one lucky listener a 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:23.320 wonderful and ridiculous plushy capabera for them to not eat. 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.880 So get the details and enter to win at part 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:26.560 time genius. 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.640 All right, So for number eighteen, I got admit that 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.000 last story did make me a little bit hungry, so 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.680 I'm gonna stick with that theme. Here's a question for you, mego, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.120 do you like lobster I'm kind of like so so 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.440 on it. Okay, I like lobster rolls, but I don't 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.360 love lobster meat that much. I'm also not into working 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:53.400 for my food. Other than pistachios and bananas, maybe boiled peanuts, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.079 I don't really like cracking foods open with my fingers 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.520 and pulling chunks of meat out of there. You put 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.720 it that way, Well, I actually do like lobster, although 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.400 it's not that I get to have it that often. 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.680 But anyone who's ever dined on whole lobster knows it 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.240 is not the easiest thing to eat. So, like you said, 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.720 you have to break it apart with mallets and crackers 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.559 and stick little forks in there to retrieve every last 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.880 little bit of meat. And if you don't know what 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:18.720 you're doing, it is a daunting task. 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.360 Yeah, it's really intimidating, especially for you know, I was 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.080 a vegetarian for a large part of my life, and 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:24.000 so I think that's. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.839 Part of why I'm not as attracted to it, right. Right, 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:28.960 it's sort of intimidating, and you know, even if you 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:30.840 do know what you're doing, it's messy, like it's one 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.240 of the only foods that served with a bib and 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.440 wet wipes. But I've actually got a pretty big solve 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.720 for you here. This goes back to two thousand and six. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.800 A man named Johnny Hathaway was thinking about this problem. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.360 He's a Native manor and he and his family had 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.959 opened a seafood restaurant and a touristy part of the state. 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.080 So every summer the place was flooded with people who 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.080 craved lobster, but, as he told us in an interview, 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.760 customers were turned off by the mess. 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.000 Well, I soon found out that people really wanted the food, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:10:59.800 not the animal. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.680 He thought, there has to be an easier way to 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.320 cook and serve lobster, and it turned out there was. 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.920 I've got three words for you, mango, high pressure processing, 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:09.600 you get it. 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.400 I like that you're saying these things expecting me to 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.480 have a reaction, but I have no idea what any 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:16.080 of that means. 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:18.840 All right, Well, in the simplest terms, it's kind of 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.760 like pasteurization, except it uses cold water and pressure instead 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.720 of high heat. So the process is really useful because 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.960 it kills the pathogens and the microorganisms that can actually 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.120 make food spoil. Now, one day, Johnny happened to be 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.400 chatting with someone from the main lobster promotion Council is 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.440 sort of a collective for the state's prize industry, and 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:40.280 she told him she'd heard about some guy in New 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:44.160 Orleans who were using high pressure processing to kill bacteria 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.000 and oysters. That's a big problem. By the way, a 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.960 lot of people enjoy eating oysters raw, so having the 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:53.600 ability to eliminate that bacteria without cooking was a pretty 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.959 big deal. And it gets better. So the folks in 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.760 Louisiana were finding that putting oysters in a high pressure 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.720 machine didn't just make them safe to eat, it actually 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:06.360 also shucked them. That's pretty magical. Now, just completely detached 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:08.880 the meat from the shell. And what is lobster if 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:13.240 not a larger and more complicated oyster. Right. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.320 I feel like some of Breene biologists out there might 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:21.439 disagree with that. H No simple assessment continues, just. 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.200 Facts, manu. So when Johnny heard this, he knew he 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.360 had to see this for himself. So he got in 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:28.520 touch with the oyster guys and they were like, we 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.079 don't know anything about lobsters, but we're up for trying 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.280 an experiment. So here's Johnny again. 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.400 So I brought some lobster down in New Orleans and 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.920 I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what it did. 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.560 We put it in the machine, we take it out, 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.800 and it's a very simple process. But what it does 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.160 is it breaks the membrane between the shell and the meat, 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.960 and it allows you to take out the meat raw. 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:53.440 The meat slides right out. 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:55.480 So I just want to take a second to acknowledge 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.280 the historic nature of that moment, right like it was 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.480 the first time in human in history that anyone had 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.600 shucked a raw lobster. It's just not possible otherwise. So 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.640 until that fateful day, the only way to break meat 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.800 from the membrane was by cooking it. So Johnny heads home, 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.120 he tracks down a high pressure processor online. He calls 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.480 it the big mother Shucker because this thing is huge. 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.280 The first machine I bought was sixteen feet high and 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.480 weigh to eighty thousand pounds, and all it is is 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:28.400 a cylinder that you'd fill with water, no heat, no chemicals, 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.040 It's just water and you turn on the pressure and 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.920 find the right pressure. The cycle last maybe three minutes. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:36.320 So once he had it up and running and got 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.960 the settings dialed in, Johnny and his employees were able 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.520 to process four to six million lobsters every single week. 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:45.800 I didn't know there were that many lobsters out there. 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.679 And you have to understand there's a lot of tradition 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.160 in the main lobster industry and that's part of the 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.439 cultural importance here. But that also meant that Johnny had 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.240 to sell the idea of this pressure shucked raw lobsters 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.760 to people who'd been doing things the old way for 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.839 a long time. You could see a lot of people 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.000 might just take joy in that process, right, because it's 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.880 like an art in itself. But luckily his raw Lobster 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.200 Meet won two awards at the two thousand and seven 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.440 Brussels International Seafood Show Best New Food Service Product, Most 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.680 Convenient New Seafood Product. Now that was a pretty definitive 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.800 seal of approval, and it helped Maynor see the commercial 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:21.760 potential of what he was. 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.520 Up to other processors and fishermen alike. They saw, okay, 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:29.400 this opens up another way for us to market our product. Right, 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.440 we don't have to just sell live anymore. We can 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.840 sell it to processes, and processes can do more value 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:36.840 added products. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.520 It opened up new markets now, according to Johnny, Chef's 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.000 love the convenience of raw lobster. It gives them more 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.400 options for cooking. Before, if you wanted a suv lobster, 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.280 it had to be parboiled first, and as Johnny says, 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.880 nobody buys a cook steak and then cooks it again. 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.320 But there's one other benefit to this process that's worth mentioning. 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:59.520 The pressure actually kills the lobster within six seconds. So 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.960 you know, that's pretty good when you think about the 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.600 animals in the world how they're treated. I think that 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:06.600 was very important. 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.440 If you're going to eat lobster, that is a pretty 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.760 humane way to do it. Anyway, since Johnny's big new discovery, 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.680 a few other high pressure processors have actually opened up 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.360 in Maine, and Johnny's thinking about new ways to put 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.960 the technology to use. For example, he's working with the 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.600 University of Maine and research involving crab and lobster shells, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.360 which contain a polymer called kitan. Now it's already being 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.760 used in agriculture as fertilizer, but apparently may have other 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:36.240 applications including helping with skin problems and wound healing. And 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.720 when you can separate a bunch of crustaceans from their 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.360 shells in a matter of minutes, it makes all the 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.040 testing and advances a whole lot more possible. 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:46.960 That's really interesting. You know, I wonder if it's going 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.680 to affect the all you can eat crabshats and like Maryland. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.840 In places like that where you know you've got all 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.520 this old bay and you're often drinking beer because like 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.080 it takes such a long time and like it's hard 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:00.960 to get the meat out. It's going to be a 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:02.080 very different process here. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:03.960 It's going to have it comes straight down a shoot 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:04.640 into your mouth. 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.200 Do not touch that dial. We will be right back 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:28.440 with more great science ideas right after the break. Welcome 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:30.280 back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking about the 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.640 twenty five greatest science ideas of the last twenty five years. 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.240 So this one is close to my heart. Will Were 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:40.760 you a bike rider as a kid? 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.480 Definitely. I rode my bike every day to school from 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:46.680 really second grade on all the way, yeah, all the 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.560 way through elementary school. I loved riding my bike. 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:51.520 And did you have to wear a helmet? 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.160 Well, I was actually talking about this just the other 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.600 day to somebody that this was on the front end 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.560 of kids wearing helmets, right, And of course my parents 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.720 maybe wear a helmet, and I'm thankful for that, but 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.199 I was one of the few in our group of 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:07.480 friends that would ride to school that were wearing helmets. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.600 Of course, I'm glad that there's no weirdness around that today. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.560 But yeah, I was one of the few wearing them 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:12.960 at that point. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.879 Yeah, I feel like it is so normalized today and 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.480 the helmets are so much less clunky. 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:17.880 Yep. 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.640 In seventh grade, with no warning, my dad went out 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.600 and did two things. First, he bought his helmets and 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.800 insisted we wear them, which you know makes sense and 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:29.560 i'd of course two with my kids now. But he 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:34.960 also found these white poles that he put on our 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.200 like very thin bubbles they put on with orange flags, 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:39.280 and so they were. 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:40.840 Riding above us. Wow. 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.480 It was partially because like we lived on a hill 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:45.960 and so like if you went up the hill, you 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:47.960 want cars to be able to see what was coming. 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.720 But it was kind of the equivalent of wearing headgear 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:52.959 to like a middle school dance, right, So like I 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.320 used to bike everywhere to the local convenience store to 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.840 like cull to sack. You know, it was just transportation 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:05.480 for us, and and then immediately I start walking. For me, 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.639 helmets were really a deterrent. And one thing that I 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.720 think is really fascinating is there's a company called Holdving, 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.600 which has created something that's basically a scarf like technology 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.920 that inflates on impact like an airbag. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.439 So is this like an invisible airbag helmet or like, 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:24.800 how I'm not picturing this? 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.000 Yeah, exactly. This thing is amazing and middle school me 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.080 would have been so psyched to seen one of these 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.240 or had one of these. But I've been watching videos 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.000 online of people crashing and one second it looks like 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.200 they're wearing nothing on their head, and next it looks 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.080 like someone like pulled over like an airbag hoodie. The 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.880 whole thing is the invention of two brilliant Swedish women 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:47.000 named Anna Hoppt and Teres Alston. They designed the helmet 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:49.160 in two thousand and five as part of a master's 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:53.280 thesis in industrial design at Lund University, and they tricked 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.320 it out with some really interesting features. You do have 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.000 to keep the helmet charge and you have to switch 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:58.960 it on when you're riding, but you can change out 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.480 the colors so like you can have the scarf like 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.399 thing match your outfit. It comes with a black box 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.119 and it records the last ten seconds before a crash, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.400 which can actually be helpful if you're trying to determine 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.639 fault in like the accident or something like that. And 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.720 according to tests done by engineers at Stanford the whole 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.399 thing actually protected people from concussions eight times better than 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:22.199 traditional bike helmets. Unfortunately, however, the cost ended up being 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.200 a factor. In a twenty fifteen review from The Guardian, 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.600 they said a new helmet cost about two hundred and 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.720 fifty pounds and if you get in a crash you 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.320 kind of have to replace it. Polving did replace the 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.719 helmets for about one hundred pounds once you bought your 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:37.320 first one, but it really wasn't cheap. 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.040 And you know that this goes back over a decade now, 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:41.800 so I'm curious, like, can I get a hold of 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:42.520 a whole thing now? 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.320 Not easily. So the founders left the company in twenty 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.720 fifteen and the company went bankrupt in twenty twenty three. 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.520 But what Anna Andrees did actually opened people up to 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.880 new ways of thinking about bike helmets. There's an incredible 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.119 company out of Germany called in Flabby that actually has 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.199 an ultra thin geometric helmet. You fill it with a 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.080 bike pump and it fills these air pockets to protect 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.480 your head. And the best part is you can actually 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:10.439 fold it up and scrunch it up so you're not 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:12.840 carrying this clunky helmet around it just kind of like 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.240